Surat Kabar AS dan Eropa Dililit Masalah Serius

Ask the Tribun Timur Editor
Surat kabar-surat kabar besar di AS dan Eropa terkena imbas krisis keuangan global.

"Media companies have had a particularly difficult time during the challenging economic environment as consumers discontinued subscriptions to save money and companies reduced advertising budgets to conserve cash," tulis salah satu artikel.

Indonesia pun mengalami masalah serupa dengan tambahan, harga kertas meroket. So, bila di AS dan Eropa hanya kena dua pukulan, di Indonesia tiga pukulan sekaligus.

Saya dapat memahami ketika sebagian teman bertanya: Kok Tribun Timur menambah 12 halaman menjadi 36 halaman, sementara harga tidak naik?

Pertanyaan itu dilanjutkan dengan joke: Apakah kalkulator Tribun Timur sedang rusak?

Tribun Timur baru berusia empat tahun. Kepercayaan pembaca membuat koran ini mendapatkan berkah dari pendapatan sirkulasi dan iklan sekaligus dalam tempo singkat. Tahun lalu, Tribun Timur meraih gelar terbaik di antara koran-koran Persda. Tahun ini, pertumbuhan iklannya lebih 100 persen dari target. Ada saat untuk berterima kasih kepada pembaca.



Sumber: http://www.editorandpublisher.com

'USA Today' to Cut 20 Positions

By E&P Staff

Published: November 24, 2008 9:35 AM ET

NEW YORK USA Today will be dropping 20 positions in early December, according to memo from its chiefs, Ken Paulson and John Hillkirk. They are asking for "volunteers" but clearly will do layoffs if need be.

The memo was posted this morning at Romenesko at www.poynter.org.

Here is an excerpt.
*

The current economic crisis has taken its toll on businesses nationwide, including USA TODAY. This will mean a cut in our 2009 budget, including the elimination of about 20 positions in early December.

We wish this wasn't necessary, but we're facing unprecedented economic challenges and we have to cut spending.

We'll have our regular monthly staff meeting Monday at 5 p.m. EST and will discuss this development and answer any questions you may have, but here are the basics: Those whose jobs are eliminated will receive severance consisting of 1 week of pay for each completed year of service, with a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 26 weeks of severance.

If you'd like to volunteer for severance, please notify Lillian Perez in Human Resources by close of business on Dec. 1, using the attached form. Volunteers will receive the same compensation package. Any staff member may volunteer and will be considered for the severance, but there may be some limits based on overall newsroom needs.

The job eliminations - including those of volunteers - are expected to take place in early December, although under some circumstances, staff members may stay a few more weeks.

This is a difficult close to what has been an extraordinary year for this newsroom, including outstanding coverage of the presidential race, the Olympics and the stunning decline on Wall Street.


E&P Staff

Market Scan
NY Times Prepares For The Worst

Melinda Peer, 11.24.08, 04:00 PM EST

The media company sharply slashed its dividend to lift its liquidity position.

The New York Times media company dramatically cut its dividend recently, which, according to one analyst, should help secure the company's liquidity position through the next year.

Citi Investment Research Analyst Catriona Fallon upgraded New York Times (nyse: NYT - news - people ) to "hold" from "sell" in a note dated Nov. 21, applauding the company's decision to cut its dividend. She deemed it "a necessary step" that, coupled with plans to lower capital expenditures and sell assets, should allow the company "to adequately fund itself for the next four quarters." The company's shares gained 95 cents, or 17.8%, to $6.29 during Monday's afternoon trading session.

Last week, the company's board slashed its quarterly dividend by 73.9%, or 17 cents, to 6 cents a share.

"We expect that this steep cut in the dividend, coupled with our other actions, will help us decrease debt and provide liquidity of the company, a prudent measure in this operating environment," said Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.

Media companies have had a particularly difficult time during the challenging economic environment as consumers discontinued subscriptions to save money and companies reduced advertising budgets to conserve cash. (See "Selling Papers.") The New York City-based company's shares have dropped 64.1% since the beginning of the year, but outperformed Revere Data's Newspaper Market Index, which has lost 66.9%. Revere Data's Media Market Index is down 61.4% since the beginning of the year. The New York Times media company owns The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe in addition to 16 daily newspapers, more than 50 Web sites and WQXR-FM.


From Times Online
November 24, 2008
Telegraph braced for 5 per cent job cuts
Dan Sabbagh

Job cuts are expected to be announced later this week at The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, which becomes the latest national newspaper group to respond to the deteriorating economy by saving money.

Just over 50 redundancies are likely to be announced at the titles owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, across a group that employs 1050 staff. A little over half of these are journalists on one of the two newspapers.

Rumours circulated yesterday that the level of cuts could be as great as 10 per cent, but it is believed that the savings aimed for will be lower than that. However voluntary redundancies are not expected to be sought.

The quality newspaper market is down by around 10 per cent since the summer, in what is traditionally the most important season for advertising. Last week The Independent, fourth in the market, announced 90 job cuts, out of a workforce of 425.

Last year the two newspapers made £11.1 million profit before tax, after exceptional charges stemming from redudancies of £23.8 million. That followed a loss in 2006 of £8.8 million - again after redundancy expenses amounting to £25 million in that year.

Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay bought The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, for £667 million in the summer of 2004, part financing the cost with loans that totalled £259 million at the end of last year. Since the acquisition, they have injected a further £25 million in equity, and lent the business another £25 million on an interest free basis.


Media
Selling Papers
James Erik Abels, 10.27.08, 06:00 AM EDT
The future of newspapers may be the death of the industry as we know it.

There's nothing like bad news to sell newspapers. Unless there are no newspapers left to sell.

Many people are wondering if this may soon be a reality. Revenues were in free-fall last week at many of the country's largest newspaper companies. "The only hope is that as we get through the spring, the rate of [the advertising] decline starts to ease up," says newspaper analyst Edward Atorino of The Benchmark Co.
On Friday, Gannett Co. (nyse: GCI - news - people ) reported that third-quarter revenue fell 9% from the same quarter last year to $1.64 billion. Other companies fared no better: The New York Times Company (nyse: NYT - news - people ) said total revenues fell 8.9% in the third quarter year over year to $687 million. And McClatchy (nyse: MNI - news - people ) posted third-quarter revenues of $451.6 million, down 16.4% over the same quarter last year.

Last week, the question on everyone's mind was whether the newspaper industry has hit bottom. Now they're wondering if these businesses can possibly rebound.

"[Newspapers] draw most of their advertising from the local economy," says John Puchella, a newspaper analyst with Moody's (nyse: MCO - news - people ). As recession sinks in across the country, many of the local businesses that constitute newspapers' biggest ad buyers could disappear, he says--and an industry can't rebound if its market ceases to exist.
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Where does that leave the papers? "At some point, you start to dismantle the companies," says Atorino. The newspaper industry's cost structure, staffing and share price are based on an outdated business model that continues to define financial expectations. So the goal would be to slough off enough costs to let younger, more nimble newspaper businesses live without the artificial market pressure of year-over-year comparisons.

Essentially, modern newspaper companies are the final legacies of an industry given life as a rich man's toy. The model was built in an era when high distribution and production costs kept new types of competitors at bay, anointing the dynastic fortunes of families like the Hearsts, Sulzbergers and Bancrofts.
Comment On This Story

Certainly, newspapers are being battered by massive declines in advertising due to a bad economy. Yet that decline is merely accelerating an ongoing and devastating trend of the newspaper business being destroyed by the Internet. The financial expectations on a younger company--and the staffing and business costs it agrees to build into its organization--may be more manageable than they are for today's behemoths.
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Some industry observers have suggested that industry giants should go private. Take The New York Times Co.: With a market cap of $1.3 billion and roughly $1.1 billion of debt, buying the company out of the public market might be a steal--if someone could find the credit to consider a bid.

Sure, the Sulzbergers are often said to be uninterested in selling, and supposedly have an iron-clad stock-ownership plan that virtually ensures their grip on the Grey Lady. But the Bancrofts were said to have similar dreams last year, before they sold the Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. (nyse: NWS - news - people ), a move that, in retrospect, may have saved the paper.
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There may also be plenty of buyers for local newspapers. "In small markets, newspapers continue to be the dominant ad platform," says Philip Murray. His firm, Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, is currently involved in several deals with private equity firms and individuals looking to buy newspapers. Prospective buyers are betting that better days lie ahead for a business that sells information, a valuable commodity in any market. In fact, Murray says that while many local papers are experiencing single-digit year-over-year advertising declines, some of those serving farming communities or energy boomtowns are actually growing.

Uh oh, an argument in favor of the newspaper industry? Not likely. The big papers, at least, will be making headlines with lay-offs and dwindling revenues for some time to come.

Gotta sell those papers, after all.

SumbeR: http://www.newspaperinnovation.com

Free circulation in Spain drops

The four major national free newspaper in Spain: 20 Minutos, Metro, Qué! & ADN, distributed 13% copies less in the first 10 months of 2008 than in 2007.

As can be seen in the graph (click for bigger version), circulation was cut back in June and July (in August free dailies don’t publish) while the September and October circulation is well below the level of before the summer.

Compared to the 2007 data (3.8 million) the current circulation (3.4 million) is 13% lower. Compared to last year October (4.2 million) the drop is 20% according to PeriodistaDigital.

Metro, in circulation the fourth paper in the first half of 2008, is now second, just after 20 Minutos.